Apple presented at WWDC 2021 a bundle of novelties collected under iCloud +, a new extra in the Apple cloud. Within this set of novelties is iCloud Private Relay, a system capable of increasing privacy when browsing the Internet. Throughout all the software betas published by the Big Apple, the function appeared activated by default and fully functional. Nevertheless, Apple has decided to make iCloud Private Relay a public beta which is disabled by default in the iPadOS beta 7 and iOS 15.
iCloud Private Relay - a secure and private way to browse from iOS, macOS, and iPadOS
ICloud Private Relay or iCloud Private Relay service is a work which allows the traffic that leaves our device to be encrypted. It achieves this thanks to a multi-hop architecture in which all the requests that come out from the iPhone or iPad are sent to two relays (proxies). Thanks to these two jumps, it is allowed to hide the exact IP from where we are operating. But keeping some basic features of our query as a similar location to ensure some web services functions.
The end result is that the IP address represents the approximate location of the user but the true IP address is masked by sharing an anonymous address to the website servers. And with this it is achieved a safer and more private way of browsing. Many experts have compared the system to a VPN. However, with iCloud Private Relay we cannot access with an IP from a different place. And therefore, we cannot access content that may be blocked. What is achieved is masking an IP with location information similar to the real one, which differentiates it from a classic VPN.
iOS 15 will be released with this feature as a public beta
The surprise jumped with the launch of the seventh beta of iOS and iPadOS 15. In it, iCloud Private Relay was disabled by default and also with a new text that placed the function in beta form. In other words, the function as such went from being an option enabled by default to a function disabled beforehand, subject to a beta test.
This is because the developers had detected performance and access problems for some websites using the iCloud private relay. In fact, this was specified in the official note of the news of beta 7:
iCloud Private Relay will be released as a public beta to collect additional feedback and improve website compatibility. (82150385)
The end result of this maneuver has a much happier ending than with the SharePlay function. This last function will not see the light in the first final version of iOS 15 but it will, most likely, in iOS 15.1. In the case of iCloud Private Relay yes it will see the light in iOS 15 as a final version, At least for now, but with a sign that it is still a feature that is being tested and is in a public beta.